Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on Oct. 22nd, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, Fayçal El-Khoury]

I now call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 58 of the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development.

Today's meeting is in hybrid format.

I would like to remind participants of the following instructions: Please wait until I call your name before speaking. To indicate that you wish to speak, please raise your hand if you are present in person, or use the “raise your hand” function if you are participating in the meeting via the Zoom application. The committee clerk and I will do our best to maintain speaking order. All comments should be addressed to the chair.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the subcommittee on September 24, 2024, the subcommittee is beginning its study of forced migration patterns in different regions of the world.

I would like to welcome our witness, Ms. Christina Clark‑Kazak, professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa.

Welcome, Professor. You will be given a maximum of five minutes for your remarks, after which members of the committee will ask you a series of questions.

You have the floor.

[Christina Clark-Kazak, Professor, Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa, As an Individual]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank the members of the committee for this invitation.

I will make my remarks in English, but if you ask questions in French, I can answer them.

I will start with a brief overview of the context and then highlight two human rights issues that require urgent attention: the right to seek asylum and the issue of ageism.

I understand that UNHCR colleagues will brief you more fully on the global statistics and demographics of forced migration, so I'll not repeat those now. Instead, I wish to highlight three global trends.

First, internal displacement makes up the majority of forced migration but is too often overlooked. Because internally displaced persons are citizens, they should benefit from the same legal rights and protections as other citizens. The guiding principles on internal displacement point to applicable human rights and humanitarian law.

However, country visits by the UN special rapporteur regularly highlight human rights concerns. For example, Sudan has over 10 million internally displaced persons who face severe risk of famine and grave human rights violations, including reports of gang rape as a weapon of war.

Second, the vast majority of forced migration occurs in low- and middle-income countries of the global south, where scarce financial resources already jeopardize the realization of basic human rights to housing, food, education, health, etc.

Third, forced displacement situations are often protracted, lasting years and in some cases decades. For example, the sprawling Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya have existed since 1991. Babies are born and people get married, grow old and die in refugee and displacement camps around the world, in temporary structures that become permanent homes.

Forced migration is too often treated as a short-term humanitarian emergency. We need longer-term, rights-based planning. A case in point is the temporary protection accorded to Ukrainians in both Europe and Canada that was limited to just three years. Of course, the conflict goes on.

The universality of human rights applies to all people everywhere, but forced migration contexts create human rights gaps. I'd like to draw the committee's attention to two worrying global trends.

First, the right to seek asylum is under threat. This right is enshrined in the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and domestic law, including Canada's Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. However, countries are increasingly closing their borders to people seeking refugee protection. The March 2023 amendment to the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement is one such example. The expansion of this agreement to the entire land border, including internal waterways, severely limits the ability of people to make a refugee claim in Canada. Another example is the Pakistan government's plan to forcibly repatriate Afghan refugees, in violation of the principle of non-refoulement. Some of these Afghan refugees are awaiting resettlement in Canada, which requires them to cross into Pakistan.

Second, generalized responses to forced migration overlook the specific lived experiences of displacement. A person's ability to exercise their rights is impacted by their positionality in relation to gender, social age, disability, race, religion and class. My research focuses on age discrimination, so I'll highlight two worrying human rights issues that demonstrate widespread ageism in forced migration policy and programming.

First, the lack of systematic birth registration in situations of displacement is a serious human rights issue. Under article 22 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, all children have the right to birth registration. Birth certificates provide proof of legal identity, which is necessary to secure other rights. However, many children born in displacement contexts are denied the right to birth registration. Some countries only allow fathers to register births, do not recognize children from same-sex relationships or require marriage certificates. For example, many Syrian refugees in Jordan cannot legally register their children's birth because the Jordanian state does not recognize traditional Islamic marriage. Their children are deemed to be born out of wedlock.

At the other end of the life-course, older people are under-represented in forced migration policy, programming and research. They are more likely to remain behind in their country of origin due to physical barriers to movement or emotional attachment to their lands, homes and communities.

Those who cross international borders face particular linguistic, physical and social barriers to accessing services and exercising their rights. For example, Ukraine has been called “the oldest humanitarian crisis in the world” because of the large number of older people affected by violence, human rights abuses and displacement.

In conclusion, people in situations of forced migration are human beings with human rights. I urge the Government of Canada to uphold its international and domestic obligations to the right to asylum.

I also recommend social age analysis of all forced migration policies and programming to ensure rights-based approaches to displacement across the life-course.

Thank you very much. I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.

[The Chair, Liberal, Fayçal El-Khoury]

Thank you, Ms. Clark‑Kazak. That was an excellent speech.

Thank you.

Now I would like to open the debate for questions.

I would like to start the first round of questions with Ms. Anita Vandenbeld.

You have the floor for seven minutes, please.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Thank you very much.

Didn't we have other witnesses online?

[A voice]

[Inaudible—Editor]

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

We had one witness. Okay.

I appreciate very much that you're here. Of course, being a local MP and recognizing that you're from the University of Ottawa, I'm quite proud as well to have you here.

I would like to delve a bit more into what you said about positionality.

I know, of course, that your research is on age, but we know that the reality for women who are in these situations of forced migration is very different from what it is for others.

You touched upon the sexual violence, but I wonder if you could elaborate a bit about the particular violence and the particular barriers that women and women's rights face when women are being displaced and some ways in which that can be overcome.

[Christina Clark-Kazak]

Thank you for the question.

As you highlight, gender-based violence is a major issue in displacement contexts because it's often happening in the context of widespread human rights abuses and violence. This is a context in which many rights are being violated, including women's rights.

Again, I focus on age. One of the aspects that's really interesting and problematic is that when women are displaced and are pregnant, there is the issue of giving birth, of access to those kinds of services, and also of the care for the newborn. This is one issue that I think requires immediate attention.

I would also highlight that, as you mentioned, it's sexual violence not just against women but also against gender-diverse individuals. This is a problem that's rooted in human rights violations, in disproportionate power relations and the fact that there are spaces in which protections, generally speaking, are not being provided.

This is where there needs to be more specific funding and programming, but there also needs to be more attention to gender when we're planning latrines, for example, or the way in which spaces of displacement are organized, especially for activities like collecting water or fetching firewood, which tend to be quite based on gender. Women and girls need to be systematically asked about these kinds of issues so that their needs and rights can be taken into account when that programming is happening.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Thank you very much.

I also wanted to talk about the rights of children—that's obviously a particularly vulnerable age group—but especially the rights of unaccompanied minors or minors who are, in the course of the migration journey, forcibly separated from whatever parental figure they may have. We've seen that in our own hemisphere.

This is a human rights committee, so we're looking particularly at what Canada can do further on human rights internationally in order to ensure that the rights of children are being respected when they are in these situations.

[Christina Clark-Kazak]

The Convention on the Rights of the Child is, as you know, the most widely ratified human rights instrument. Only the U.S. has not signed it. Because of that, it actually has enormous power. I think we can use that, because it's not just Canada saying that people should uphold children's rights; it's actually everyone in the world that has agreed to these rights.

In terms of separated children, as you mentioned, there is a distinction between separated children who have maybe been temporarily displaced and are without their families—for example, they were at school when a displacement happened, and then they were displaced from their families—and unaccompanied minors who are actually crossing borders by themselves, sometimes in the company of other young people. They're not necessarily always alone. There are siblings or cousins who sometimes cross borders.

There are specific protection concerns because.... They're under 18, so they're protected by the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The reason they need protection is that there are these power relations with adults who are, in some cases, going to exploit them.

You mentioned gender earlier. It's particularly the women or girls and gender-diverse young people who are at risk of trafficking and sexual exploitation.

In Canada, for example, trafficking is primarily a domestic issue. It primarily happens within and between provinces. It's been shown that in fact women and gender-diverse individuals are much more likely to be trafficked. If they have come into Canada—for example, Ukrainians came to Canada with temporary visas—there is a distinction between the airlines, which designate unaccompanied minors as under 16, and the international legal realm, which designates unaccompanied minors as under the age of 18. We have this protection gap when young Ukrainians arrive in Canada with visas. The airline didn't turn them away, but once they arrived here, there was no systematic programming for them.

The situation of Ukrainians was helpful in the sense that it shed light on the issue. A study was commissioned by the Government of Canada. In fact, all unaccompanied minors face very similar issues. Because of the differences between the provinces, we don't have a systematic way of addressing unaccompanied minors in Canada.

As you mentioned, in the southern hemisphere even more unaccompanied minors are moving to flee violence. Also, in some cases, it's because of economic reasons. If we think of Venezuela, for example, in some cases people are moving to other countries for economic opportunities that are not available to them elsewhere.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Mr. Chair, do I have time?

[The Chair, Liberal, Fayçal El-Khoury]

Yes.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

On that, because our committee is more focused on international situations than on the domestic ones, what other specific tools or policies does Canada have, other than the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to ensure the rights of these minors, whatever the reason that they're travelling unaccompanied? Are there specific tools or policies that we would be able to pursue that would protect these very vulnerable children?

[Christina Clark-Kazak]

I think that our colleagues at UNHCR have developed very helpful guidelines on unaccompanied minors. Perhaps Michael can speak to that later. There's also Save the Children.

I would say also that Europe is much more advanced in terms of tools and policies for unaccompanied minors because it receives many more unaccompanied minors at its borders. They are coming through the Middle East. There has been much more work done in the European Union and in the U.K. on this issue.

[The Chair, Liberal, Fayçal El-Khoury]

Thank you.

Now I would like to go to Mr. Lake, please.

You have the floor for seven minutes.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to the witness.

The first question I have is regarding your comment about the lack of systematic birth registration.

You clearly identified the problem, but what suggestions do you have to resolve that problem in some of the really difficult situations that you're talking about? What can Canada do in terms of policy to help facilitate a solution to that problem?

[Christina Clark-Kazak]

The first thing I would say is diplomacy. In some cases, it's another state that is not recognizing the birth because of the gender and other issues that I mentioned.

The second thing is practicality. It's funding through development assistance. As I mentioned, the majority of displacement happens in low- and middle-income countries. Some of these countries don't even have the resources to register their own citizens, let alone people who are coming in the displacement context. That could be another practical way.

The third thing is advocacy around this issue. I think that in some cultures and countries, it's not a regular thing to register children. It's not recognized as being important, but it is fundamental for them to be able to exercise all of their other rights. In some cases it leads to children being stateless.

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, for example, are systematically stateless because they're not recognized by either Bangladesh or Burma. In this case, it means using advocacy and diplomacy to convince those states to actually register the children.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, AB]

You mentioned seniors and the unique challenges faced by seniors. Have you done any work looking at people with disabilities, including intellectual developmental disabilities in particular?

[Christina Clark-Kazak]

Yes, there is some really great work that's done by Rachel McNally at Carleton on people with disabilities in displacement contexts. UNHCR also has policies particularly on disabled people in displacement contexts.

In some cases, as you mentioned, there's an intersection between age and disability. Older people might also be disabled, and there are some policies on that in terms of the older people. HelpAge and UNHCR have specific guidelines on older people that also include issues around disability.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, AB]

I imagine there's an intersection around the registration component or information component related to identifying people who might be vulnerable because they have autism.

I have a son with autism. It would be really easy to lose Jaden in a system where he can't identify himself. Someone would have to make the effort to identify that there's somebody with autism who wouldn't be able to put up their hand or apply for some type of status or for paperwork to relocate in the first place.

[Christina Clark-Kazak]

Yes, exactly. As you mentioned, there's often this intersection between disability and age, depending on the age of the individual and other factors. This is where, as you mentioned, there needs to be the diagnosis, and this really happens on the ground, mostly with non-governmental organizations and UN agencies. It happens mostly with children.

I think the gap that you're identifying here is with adults and older people who might have disabilities, because they're more likely to fall through the cracks. For children, there are specific child protection components that are used to assess them, especially for education and other reasons.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, AB]

We're studying forced migration. It's a term we use, “forced migration”. We talk as if we all know exactly what forced migration is. I don't know what the definition would be for forced migration. Are all refugees who are moving considered to be forced into migration, or is there a specific category that forced migration refers to?

[Christina Clark-Kazak]

Generally speaking, forced migration is a broader conceptual category. It would include refugees, including internally displaced people who do not cross an international border, including refugee claimants or asylum seekers who don't yet have their refugee claim, and also including people who are displaced for environmental or economic reasons, who would not be considered refugees under the UN convention but are clearly displaced involuntarily because of natural disasters or human rights abuses.

It's a very broad term, and refugees would be a subcategory of that. Refugees have a specific legal status under the UN refugee convention and under domestic law. In Canada, that would be IRPA.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, AB]

An important clarification would be that it's not necessarily people who are moving because of force; they might be forced by an environmental situation, an earthquake or something like that, as opposed to civil unrest or war.

[Christina Clark-Kazak]

Yes. I think the main issue here is that it's involuntary. People wouldn't be choosing to move, but they have to because of environmental disaster, human rights abuses or those kinds of things.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, AB]

I have one last question.

You were talking about situations in which internal displacement has led to protracted situations. If there is a refugee camp in a country that's at war, and the country eventually is no longer at war, could the refugees wind up staying in the situation they're in?

Maybe it's not a refugee situation anymore. Maybe it's just a poverty situation, because the thing that forced them into that camp in the first place is no longer happening. Is there a point at which someone who is an internally displaced refugee becomes not a refugee, but is still living in the same circumstance they were in as a refugee?